> It reads like an encyclopedia summary 
> of what we know...

That's a well-deserved complement to this review paper.

> I have never been satisfied with any 
> explanation of how varroa spreads so 
> rapidly in the landscape.

It looks like it's the drifters. 

Wyatt Mangum's elegant little experiment is classic -  [2011] "Varroa
immigration and resistant mites" ABJ 151:475

Sakofski F, Koeniger N, Fuchs S (1990) Seasonality of honey bee colony
invasion by Varroa jacobsoni Oud. Apidologie 21:547-550

Frey E, Schell H, Rosenkranz P (2011) Invasion of Varroa destructor mites
into mite-free honey bee colonies under controlled conditions of a military
training area. J Apic Res 50:138-144

Frey, E. Rosenkrantz. 2014. Autumn invasion rates of Varroa destructor
(Mesostigmata: Varroidae) into honey bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) colonies and
the resulting increase in mite populations. J. Econ. Entomol. 107(2):
508-515

And, it seems that varroa infestation increases the drifting rate of
specific infested foragers

Forfert , et al (2015) Parasites and Pathogens of the Honeybee (Apis
mellifera) and Their Influence on Inter-Colonial Transmission  
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0140337

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